Signalling device.



T. E. HANNA.

SiGNALlNG DEW-CE, APPLICATXONEILEDSEPT.3,191:5.

Eateateii. 55m. vi

SAATES "KATENT QFFIQE,

TROY E. IiAJLlll-A, 933 ST, LGUIS, MISSGURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO GEORGE F. SOHU'LEHLUEG, OF ST. LOUES, MISSOURI.

SIGNALING DEVICE.

Application rues Septenilaer 3, 1918.

city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful improvement in Signaling Devices, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part thereof.

Thisinvention relates to certain new and useful. improvement in signaling devices, the

principal object of my present invention being to provide a simple, ineirpensive, and ethcientsignaling device especially adapted for use in connection with gas-engine lubricating systems for automatically effecting an alarm or giving u-signal when the supply of lubricant for the engine reaches a certain point or level beyond or below which contin ued operation of the engine may result in a burning-out of the shaft-bearings or in other to the engine and its parts With the above and other objects in view,

my' present invention resides in the provision of a device of the kind and for lJllBiJU-IT'. posestated comprised in anorrnaliv nee-n electric circuit having incorporated herein a circuit makingnnd-breslnng means 1ncludn W mg a host which is influenced by the IQvBl 'of the lubricant in the system, the circuit inahing-sncl-hreaking means being autoinaticelly actuaole in a manner to close the circuit, for purposes of alarm or signal, at a, time when the lubricant supply has it} preached or reached a so-called danger lover, end in ce tain novel-features of form, con-' struction, arrangement, and combination parts, all as will hereinafter be described and'a't'terward pointed out. in the claims.

-- While my device is especially adapted for use in connection with engines having a lubricating; system of the splash type and is accordingly here so shown and described, it

f is to he understood that my signaling (1 vice is equally Well adapted for use in connection with other types of engines or 1n connect on with other apparatus or the like in which there is a variable lubricant level.

In the accoinpenyin drawing,

Figure 31 i n eleverionel view of the leice -n operative position in connection. with an internal combustion or engine he i'cg splash system of lubricstion, the engine sing .i'oken away and portions or trag- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jen, 21, 1919.

Serial No. 252,439.

merits of the crank-case and connecting-rod oi the engine being shown in dotted lines;

Fig. shows the device in vertical section and its relation to the crank-case of the engine; and

Fig. 3 is a detuil cross-sectional view on approximately the line 3-'3, Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the said drawing, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views, 1 have shown, for purposes if illustration, astandard engine of the Ford type, of which engine "1 indicates the base, 2

the crank-case, which is fixed to the base by bolts or other fastening-devices 3, the

crank, and 5 the connecting rod.

My new signaling der'ic proper comprises a, shell or casing A adapted in use to be operatively supported on the engine as by means of an embracing-bicyclist 6 having an apertured extension or mini 7 secured as by one of the bolts 3 to the engine, as shown.

The shell or :sing A is made up preferably of tubular sections Send 9 arranged end to 1d, and united at their adjacent ends by if union-o the like 10", the upper end of upper section 8 having preferably threaded thereupon and being closed levy-an end-cap'lll and the lower end of lower section 9 having preferably threaded thereupon and being closed by u cup-shaped base 12. apertures to provide seat for one end of u pipe 125 connected at its other end by a coupling or union 1% with a pipe communicating with the crank-ca. e 2 or the engine, the point of communicationbetween pipe 15 and crank-case being approximately on the level or plane at which the supply of lubricant in the rank-case should be maintained that the engine may operate with safety under suflicient lubrication.

interposed between the adjacent or meeting ends of the sl ell-sections 8 and 9, preferably as shown, is it disk 16 of insulation nmterial provided approximately centrally with :1 preferably non-circular perforation, and fixed upon the upper face of dislrlltl is ct-ineinher in the form preferably of an sperturcd metallic plateor ring 17'. Disposed lengthwise in shell or casing A. and workinr in the perforation oi"- disk 16, is a prcieruoly correspondingl square metallic rod 19 iorming the stem of a, float 19, which letter disposed in lower shell-section 9 beneath the disk 16v stenrlS having a metal.- ,lic disk or contact-member 2O tixed thereto at its lower end and beneath thelloat 19.

Adjacent its upper end and witlnn upper shell-section S, stem 18 is provided with a lateral arm 21, which carries a contact-member 22 adapted. as hereinafter more fully appears, to contact electrically with the ring 17. Mounted on disk 1t) and having electrical connection with ring 17, is a bindingpost 23 included in an electric circuit by means of a conductor or wire 2t leading through a suitable aperture 25 in end-cap 11 to the magneto (not shown) ot' the car or other source of electrical energy lower shellsection 9 and its base 12 being suitably grounded, as by means of its described pipe-connection to the machine-frame.

The dash-line 13 shown in Fig. 2 indicates a working oil or lubricant level for the engine, which, as shown, the float 19, the contact-members '20 and 22 will be maintained out of electrical engagement, respectively, with the shell-base 1:2 and ring 17, the circuit being consequently normally open and the ignition-system of the engine fully operative. As the supply of lubricant in the crank-case 2 reaches the socalled danger level, the tloat 19 will correspondingly tall in the shell A and the contact-members 20 and engage electrically with the base 12 and ring 17, respectively,

- and close the circuit, the ignition-circuit of the engine being thereby short-circuited and continued operation of the engine being consequently automatically stopped. \Vlien the circuit is so closed, electing the alarm or signal stated, the current from the magneto or other source of electrical energy follows the following course, namely, through the conductor 2% to binding-post to ring 17, to contact-member 2:2, to arm 21, to rod or stem 18, to contact-member 20, to base 12, to pipes 1315,'and thence to ground through the engine crank-case 2.

My new signaling device has been found highly etlicient' in use and is both simple and inexpensive in form and construction. The stem or rod 18 and its described disk-aperture are preferably formed non-circular, as stated, to obviate rotary movement of the stem or rod 18 which might carryits contact member into pren'iature electrical engagement with the bindingpost 23, which projects upwardly into a plane higherthan is such that, through.

a desired or necessary oil or lubricant -signaling level.

i am aware that minor changes in the form. construction, arrangen'ient, and combination of the several parts of my device may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent i:

1. In a signaling'device, the combination with a normallyopen electric circuit, of an oil reservoir comprising a pair of connected sections disposed end toend, an insulationdisk disposed between said sections and insulating the same one from the other, the lower section being also included in the circuit and adapted for communication with the crank-ease of an engine, a fixed contact on the disk also included in the circuit, a float disposed within the lower reservoir section and influenced by variations of oil level therein, a metallic stem carried by and 1nov able with the float, the stem having a portion projecting into the upper reservoir section," and contacts on the stem adapted for electrical engagement with said fixed contact and with said lower reservoir section to close the circuit to effect an alarm.

2. The combination with the crank-case of a gas-engine, ot' asignaling device comprising a normally open electric circuit, an oil reservoir consisting of a pair of connect-- ed sections disposed end to end, an insulation disk disposed between said sections and insulating the same one from the other, the lower reservoir section having communication with the crank-case and being included in said circuit, a fixed contact on the lisk also included in the circuit, a float disposed in the lower reservoir section and influenced by variations of oil level therein, a metallic stem carried by and movable with the float and projecting at its upper end into the upper, reservoir section, and contacts on the stem adapted t'or electrical engagement, respectively, with said fixed contact and with the lower reservoir section to close the circuitto effect an alarm.

In testimony whereof, I' have signed iny H name to this specification.

TROY E. HANNA. 

